BELL says signing for Rangers is a dream come true and he hopes to get to the standard of past Rangers keepers Andy Goram, Stefan Klos and Alan McGregor.

CAMMY BELL yesterday recalled the time when doctors feared a serious knee injury would finish his playing career.

And the keeper, who has left Kilmarnock and signed a four-year deal with Rangers, believes moving to Ibrox is the ultimate reward for the perseverance it took to defy medical opinion.

Now Bell’s next act of defiance will be to disprove those who claim that anyone who leaves an SPL
club and voluntarily opts for one operating two divisions beneath it lacks ambition.

But
the goalie has already been through too much during his battle to salvage his career to be overly troubled by jibes about which level of the game he chooses to display his worth.

The injury that threatened to leave him on the scrapheap came when he was only four games into a loan spell at Montrose in 2007.

The 26-year-old said: “I was trying to save a penalty and twisted my knee when I attempted to change direction.

“I was going one way and the boy put the ball in the other direction. I just collapsed and my knee had gone completely.

“The
cruciate ligament damage was so bad the club doctor at Kilmarnock told the physio at Rugby Park that he didn’t think I’d be able to play again.

“But neither of them told me that at the time. It was difficult when I found out the whole situation.

“Alex McQueen, the physio at Kilmarnock, was brilliant with me. He worked long and hard with me in the gym at Rugby Park every day.

“I didn’t find out how badly injured I was until I’d completed my recovery a year later.

“That’s
how bad my knee was and it has taken a long time to overcome that injury. It was hard work at the time but that always pays off in the end.

“I think that’s the philosophy I’ve got to get into my head for as long as I’m here at Rangers.

“Signing for Rangers six years after that episode feels like the ultimate reward for perseverance.

“I didn’t have any doubt that I’d pass my medical before signing for the club. I haven’t been troubled by the knee since my recuperation was completed. It’s been magic since then.”

And Bell is equally confident the critics of his move to Rangers can say what they like without any of it having the slightest effect on his self esteem.

That applies in particular to those
who suggest he’s dropped into the Second Division in order to improve his bank balance rather than his career prospects

Bell, who won a Scotland cap in 2010, said: “I signed for Rangers because I’ve got ambition, not because I lack it.

“I
totally disagree with the notion that I’ve shown a lack of ambition coming here and I use the sheer size of the club I’ve joined to support my argument.

“Other clubs were interested in me but money was never a factor.

“I wanted to join Rangers on their journey back to where the club belongs.

“This
is a long-term plan for me and there’s a hunger inside to be part of Rangers when we’re playing in the SPL and back in Europe once again.”

Bell grew up supporting Rangers and his knowledge of their history, especially the catalogue of legendary keepers who starred at the club, has inspired him.

He said: “If this club can’t make me a better player then no club can. I was so excited to walk into Ibrox as a Rangers player.

“It’s an unbelievable feeling and it has been a long time coming. Now I feel as if I’m in my new home.

“If I want to be a Rangers keeper I’ll have to produce my very best.

“I
watched the great ones like Andy Goram and Stefan Klos when I was a kid
growing up as a Rangers supporter and I had the pleasure of working with Allan McGregor at international level.

“If I can get to be anywhere near as good as them I’ll be on the right path. That’s my aim.

“I set my standards high and I want to be as good as any of them.”

The extent to which Bell prides himself on his level of performance was illustrated when he relived his annoyance at having dropped a clanger in his last game for Killie.

The keeper was furious with himself on Saturday for failing to stop a low shot from St Mirren’s Conor Newton late in the game.

Although
he got down to make the save, Bell somehow let the ball slip through his hands and watched in agony as it trundled over the line to hand the Buddies a 3-1 victory.

The keeper said: “It was a mistake and everyone in life makes those.

“Some people will want to crucify you for it but you just need to get on with it. How you deal with mistakes is important and any errors I make will be magnified as a Rangers player.

“I was disappointed with myself when Newton scored because you can’t afford to make mistakes for Kilmarnock, or any other club.

“It was my last game for the team but that didn’t stop me talking over what had happened with Billy Thomson, Killie’s goalkeeping coach. He’s been great with me throughout my career and brought me on as a goalkeeper.

“Billy
told me Ibrox is a great place where I’ll be well looked after and said
he knew I was good enough to make it with Rangers. Hearing that from someone like him was a great boost for me and I gave him a nice bottle of whisky as a thank you.

“Hopefully I’ll learn from what happened at the weekend and I know Rangers will provide me with that challenge.”